Challenges Of Communal Farming In Omaheke

IN 1991 the Government of Namibia convened a Consultative Land Conference which affected people differently as they came with differing expectations. Among the many statements and position papers presented two particularly come to mind.

One was by Katuutire Kaura, Member of Parliament on the opposition benches. He said while communal farmers are battling with landlessness, they are the best farmers because each time commercial farmers want to replenish their livestock they rely on communal farmers.
The other was by Vekuii Rukoro, then Deputy Minister of Justice. He said during this conference blacks who lost land expressed willingness to share this country and its wealth with their white compatriots by not insisting on the restoration of their land rights. The onus now lies with white compatriots to express their position with regard to the land and its wealth. These sensitive statements were buried in the reports of the conference in question, which reports are collecting dust on somebody’s shelves. Meanwhile communal farmers battle along and in the words of popular music artist Billy Joel: making love out of nothing at all.
Omaheke is one of the regions of Namibia where communal farmers are caught between a rock and a hard place. They have effectively moved the qualities of their animals into the mainstream of contemporary farming and one detects little difference between Brahman, Simmentaler or Bonsmara breeds from these communal areas and those from the commercial sector. But they do this without appropriate resources and particularly agricultural land that can make for efficient farming.
They battle with grazing issues as they farm in demarcated areas ring-fenced by commercial farms and encroached by bush. Large tracts of land have been laid barren due to obsolete vegetation particularly the one known as Omusaona in one of the vernacular.
Many of the communal farmers have pooled resources, drilled boreholes in secluded areas and encamped large tracts of land for themselves. The government has related to this phenomenon with mixed feelings and has remained undecided on best ways in relating to these farmers, who are referred to as Overitoporere. Still a number of challenges persist. One is the fact that underground water would be limited and in some areas unattainable. The other is the existence of the poison plant referred to as Otjikurioma. This plant which decimates livestock en masse every year is rife mostly during the months of August and September before the regular bushes and grass become green. Farmers have developed some counter measures though with limited success.
Communal farmers in Omaheke are regarded as well off compared to many communal farmers around the country due to the fact that they command large herds of cattle. However, their agricultural land does not expand and the consequence is that as younger farmers emerge and stake their claim on farming space, the land falls under pressure and diminishes proportionally in size as well as in value and quality as productive soil. These result in a situation where many of these once economically independent communal farmers have become seasonal workers on commercial farms and run the potential risk of being paupers on the land of their fathers.
Communal farmers in Omaheke are somewhat trapped. They want to farm effectively but the space does not expand and in the converse, more and more persons stake a claim on farming land. They cannot buy farms because farming land is also not expanding and more so, farm prices have become prohibitive due to demand. Needless to say, this poses a larger challenge to the nation as a whole.